First Omicron cases in Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh Kerala; tally at 38

Three more states — Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh and Kerala — reported their first case of Omicron on Sunday. Maharashtra and Karnataka also reported one more case each, taking the total in the country to 38.

While a 20-year-old fully vaccinated man from Italy was detected in Chandigarh with Omicron, a 34-year-old foreign traveller from Ireland tested positive for the new variant in Visakhapatnam.  In Kerala, a person who returned from the UK on December 6 to Ernakulam, was identified as the first patient. Two of his family members also tested positive and are currently under isolation.

According to an official statement, the man in Chandigarh had landed in India on November 22 and was under institutional quarantine. His seven high-risk family contacts were put under quarantine and were tested for Covid-19 by the RTPCR method. All of them tested negative. 

“He has been kept in isolation for the last 11 days. His report for the whole genomic sequencing was received late night on December 11 and has been found positive for the Omicron variant,” the statement said.  Maharashtra,  leading the Omicron tally, added one more case. A 40-year-old man from Nagpur, who arrived from South Africa on December 5, was found to be infected with Omicron, according to a report of the National Institute of Virology on Sunday.